


find my way home

by shcrlockholmcs



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/F, TLOU2, the last of us 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25123450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shcrlockholmcs/pseuds/shcrlockholmcs
Summary: What if Dina had still been home when Ellie arrived?
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 139





	find my way home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fromthebeginningthen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromthebeginningthen/gifts).



Ellie ran her right hand along the wooden part of the fence that followed the full perimeter of the farm. The feeling of the bumps on the wood only reminded her of the fingers she had lost on her left hand. It made her nauseous thinking of those moments in the water and her hand yanked away from the fence in a visceral reaction to the images plaguing her mind.

_“I won’t do this again”_ Dina had said—and Ellie couldn’t say she blamed her.

She stood at the perimeter, frozen in place, and afraid to walk up to the house. The tall weeds whipped around her legs in the summer wind. There were two horses tied up out front—Tommy and Maria’s.

How could she possibly return home again? Sure—Tommy would be happy to see her, but unhappy to hear how she handled things.

She had let Abby go. The opposite of what she promised Tommy.

But she had no other choice. Ellie could not do to Lev what Abby had done to her—what Joel had done to Abby. In the end, Ellie owed Abby what she had given her back in Seattle. She had spared her life then—a life for a life had already been paid. The violence needed to end.

And Ellie could not describe it, but as Abby sped away in that boat with Lev, she felt something inside of her heal. It was painful—like a hot iron soldering a wound closed. But the wound was closed nonetheless.

Now here she stood, more afraid of walking up to a house full of her found family than she ever was fighting infected or hunting down Abby. It was ironic that Dina, the person who had made her feel the most loved and safe, was now the person she dreaded seeing most.

And yet, part of her was excited at the thought of being able to hold her and JJ again. To kiss them. To never leave again.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Ellie said to herself, hoisting her backpack back on her shoulders.

She took her time crossing the field to the front door, taking in the scenery just in case Dina sent her packing. Once she reached the porch, the horses whinnied at the sight of her and she reached out to pet their nuzzles. Ellie rested her head against the muzzle of Tommy’s horse, petting it affectionately.

“Oh my god—it’s Ellie!” Maria’s voice shouted, breaking Ellie out of her quiet moment.

The next thing she knew Maria was enveloping her in her arms, squeezing tight.

“Ow—ow ow, Maria,” Ellie groaned, wiggling a little bit due to the pain of her injuries. Maria pulled away and gave her a once over before ushering her inside.

The house was completely unchanged—it looked like Ellie had never left, save for the bags that clearly belonged to Tommy and Maria by the couch. They must have been staying here helping Dina out with the baby.

Tommy and Dina came from the kitchen—Tommy looking far more frantic than Dina. He ran over to Ellie and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Kid—you’re okay. I can’t believe it—god we were so worried,” he said, looking her in the eyes. The concern on his face made her well up with tears, but she just sniffed them down and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.

“Yeah—hey yeah, I’m back,” she replied. Ellie held up her left hand. “I need, uh, some medical attention though.” Maria gasped at the sight of her mangled fingers and turned to Dina.

But Dina already knew what was going to be asked of her.

“I’ll go get my med kit,” she said, her voice alarmingly hollow as she walked out of the room.

“Ellie—I know you just got home, I hate to ask but—”

“Tommy, now is not the time,” Maria scolded.

“I know, but I got to know—”

“Tommy, it’s your damn fault she left in the first place. Now, nor never, is the time for this conversation,” she snapped.

“I let her go,” Ellie interrupted, causing both of their heads to snap in her direction.

“Excuse me?” Tommy said, his voice raising. “You did what?”

“I let her go. She had a kid with her. I couldn’t do what she did to me—not to that kid. He had nothing to do with this. And Abby—she let me live in Seattle. I owed her the same,” Ellie explained. “Tommy—I know you’re pissed but I don’t give a fuck. I want the killing to end—just want it to end.”

And as she hunched over sobbing, Maria wrapped her arms around her again and helped her over to the couch, sitting her down. She shot Tommy a look as Dina entered into the room, cradling a massive stash of medical supplies in her arms.

“We should give them some privacy, Tommy. And I want to have a word with you,” Maria said, pointing a finger at him before walking out the back door towards the barn. Tommy hesitated, giving Ellie a distraught look before following Maria out of the house.

Ellie was hunched over on the couch, hiding her face in her hands, afraid to look at Dina. She felt the couch dip next to her—Dina had sat down. Their legs were touching. Ellie was embarrassed to admit just how excited it made her—at least Dina wasn’t so disgusted that she didn’t want to touch her.

“Look at me,” Dina prompted. Ellie reluctantly lifted her head from her hands and turned slightly to face her. Dina picked up a wet rag and began cleaning away the tried mud and blood from her cheeks, neck, arms.

They sat in silence until Dina was done washing her. It wasn’t as good as a shower—which she would still need later—but it helped identify wounds that needed immediate attention.

“This is going to burn,” Dina prefaced before wiping at some of the wounds with alcohol pads, making Ellie wince, and following up with hydrogen peroxide wipes. The cuts bubbled white with the cleansing power of the peroxide.

Dina reached for her injured hand, which made Ellie instinctively jerk her arm back.

“Sorry,” Ellie mumbled, giving her hand back to Dina.

“What happened?”

“Um,” Ellie bit her lip and frowned. This was not a story she wanted to tell Dina. She didn’t want to remind Dina why she left—to bring up the pain and the anger.

But she told her anyway.

“Abby and I—we were fighting, in the water. I found her and the kid she was with—Lev?—hanging from wooden posts, tied by their wrists. I cut them down. She led me down to the water, where there were boats we could both take,” Ellie sucked in a shuddering breath. “I said I couldn’t let her go. We fought in the water. She bit off my fingers. I let her go.”

“This is going to burn worse,” Dina said. She began wiping away the caked, dried blood on Ellie’s hand.

She was extremely gentle for someone furious with their patient.

Ellie hissed from the pain and Dina smiled.

“You dummy, I told you it was going to burn.”

“I know. It did burn, that’s why I reacted that way,” Ellie countered, but their tones were light.

Dina began bandaging her hand, putting some Neosporin on it, and wrapping it up. When she was finished she kept holding Ellie’s hand in hers—seemingly unable to let go.

“Dina—”

“No, let me talk first.”

“Okay…”

“It was really fucked up that you left even though I asked you not to. That kind of violence—after everything else we did in Seattle—that’s fucked up. I don’t want to see you become that kind of person—well I didn’t, but I’m afraid you already did. I know what she did to Joel was wrong, but damn it Ellie…”

A few beats of silence stretched out between them.

“I know,” Ellie said. “I know and you’re right. Fuck, part of me wishes I could take it all back.”

“Part of you?”

“When I got there, when I finally found her, she and Lev were hanging up on poles left to die. I cut them down. We fought, but I let her go, Dina. I cut her down—I saved her and I ended the fight. It’s over,” Ellie explained. “And I had to do that—I had to—it’s the only way…I haven’t had nightmares or flashbacks about Joel since then. I can say his name now.”

Dina looked skeptical.

“I fucking mean it, Dina. I don’t know how or why, but it just…it just felt like everything came fucking full circle. And there’s a sense of peace with that, you know?”

“Okay,” Dina whispered. She nodded. “Okay. I believe you.”

“And I’m so fucking sorry Dina. I’m sorry for the way I left. I do wish I had stayed—but I didn’t. I can’t change that and I can only try to see the good in what happened. I just hope you can forgive me—you’re all I have left,” Ellie cried, tears beginning to stream down her face.

“I do,” Dina said. She pulled Ellie forward into a hug, resting her chin on the top of her head. “I forgive you. Lord help me, I do. I don’t want to do this life without you.”

They sat there, Ellie wrapped up in Dina’s arms, sobbing, for what felt like hours. Finally, Ellie pulled away and Dina wiped away the residual tears on her face. They both chuckled awkwardly.

“I missed you,” Ellie mumbled.

“I missed you too,” Dina replied. She leaned forward and gave her a slow, sweet kiss. Ellie’s hands came up to cup her face, but they both began giggling as her bandaged hand clumsily bumped Dina’s cheek.

“Well this is going to make things suck,” Ellie grumbled.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Hey uh—where’s JJ?”

Dina smiled. “He’s asleep. He’ll be very happy to see you when he wakes up from his nap.”

“I’m glad you’re back, kid,” Tommy’s voice jolted them apart.

“Holy fuck, Tommy! You can’t sneak up on people like that,” Ellie shouted.

He held his hands up in surrender.

“I’m sorry for how I reacted. I’m sorry for pushin’ ya to go. Maria and Dina won’t let me hear the end of it. It was shitty I did that,” he said.

“It’s okay Tommy,” Ellie said. “I made the choice. No one can change that.”

“All that matters is that she’s here now,” Maria added, walking back into the room.

“Yeah,” Dina agreed, leaning forward to plant a wet kiss on Ellie’s temple.

“Ugh, gross,” Ellie whined, but she was wearing a wide smile and her cheeks were pink.

Ellie looked around the room—soaking up the moment, taking mental pictures of it—because this was her family. Her found family. Despite all their dysfunctions, all the fucked up shit in the world—she had somehow managed to surround herself with people who loved her. Who loved every fucked up part of her—who didn’t even see her as fucked up.

She owed a lot of it to Joel. Joel—who spared her life, who took her to Jackson—who she missed more than she could ever put into words. She still wished that she had enough time to tell Joel she forgave him.

Maybe this is what a good life looked like now. It sure seemed like a good life.

Maybe she had found her way home after all.

Ellie just wished Joel could see her now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! I just needed to write a happy ending for myself, even though I totally understand how the game ended. I even like how the game ended! But I just love Dina and Ellie together, so I wanted to give them this.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this little fic!


End file.
